Suburbs Around Bordeaux Evacuated as Wildfires Rage

Satellite imagery shows burned areas and smoke rising from a wildfire, near Le Porge, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France July 23, 2026. 2026 (Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters)
Satellite imagery shows burned areas and smoke rising from a wildfire, near Le Porge, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France July 23, 2026. 2026 (Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters)
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Suburbs Around Bordeaux Evacuated as Wildfires Rage

Satellite imagery shows burned areas and smoke rising from a wildfire, near Le Porge, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France July 23, 2026. 2026 (Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters)
Satellite imagery shows burned areas and smoke rising from a wildfire, near Le Porge, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France July 23, 2026. 2026 (Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters)

French ‌authorities evacuated thousands of people from suburbs near Bordeaux on Saturday as wildfires in areas around the city showed no signs of abating.

Sophie Brocas, who heads the local administration of La Nouvelle-Aquitaine et de la Gironde which covers the Bordeaux region, ‌said on X ‌that the areas ‌of ⁠Le Haillan, Eysines ⁠and Merignac were being cleared out.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said that more than 141,000 people had so far been evacuated from the Gironde and Landes ⁠regions which lie close ‌to Bordeaux, ‌and where the wildfires first broke ‌out this week.

"The fires which ‌are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before," Lecornu wrote on ‌X on Saturday. The French army has also been drafted ⁠in ⁠to help.

So far this month, temperatures have averaged 32.2 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Aquitaine region, which is 7.3 degrees Celsius (13.1 degrees Fahrenheit) above the normal high for July between 1961 to 1990, according to data on Reuters Climate Monitor.